You need to upgrade your Flash Player The theme of this blog is not only and obviously space, but in particular “terrestrial worlds”, places that tend to have surfaces on which one could walk or at least attach oneself to. These places sometimes also have other earth-like familiar features such as atmospheres, weather, volcanos, geysers and perhaps, we are finding, even exotic oceans, rivers or lakes that are not necessarily made of familiar materials we are used to here at home. The second theme is imagery. Occasionally I do some retouching of images when needed if an image is incomplete or sometimes “dirty” or noisy. I will attempt to correct image shortcomings based upon other images or well-accepted presumed attributes. When this is done, notes will be offered as to what was added, why and sometimes how it was done. This way no one should ever wonder if something they are looking at is real or photoshop.
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Are We Seeing Venting Here?

Do We See Venting Here?

I am no scientist, but I would think that the wispy soft lines billowing from this fracture on Enceladus are the famed geysers we have seen so much of from a distance (see the upper right side of the fracture in particular). The geysers have been easily seen from more distant and back-lit images taken of Enceladus, and we know this area being imaged is the source. So wouldn’t it be fairly safe to assume that it is happening in several of these frames?

It may just be that the particles are too fine to be seen at this distance. Consider that they previously have only visible at greater distances when the plumes are back-lit in low-light situations. Seeing this activity from this distance may be kind of like trying to see a cloud when you are already in it… only harder.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 1:23 am and is filed under Enceladus, news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

7 Responses to “Are We Seeing Venting Here?”

  1. Bill Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 3:04 am

    I see it too, but would that mean then that the venting is coming from near the top of the fracture and not the bottom? What about the lower left side of the fracture, is that venting, too, flowing the opposite direction? In any case, wild stuff.

  2. thomas Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    i think (if it is) we only see the upper spray as any lower edge spray might be more straight at the camera? perhaps the upper area is revealed due to a more revealing trajectory for where cassini was positioned?

  3. Bill Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    I’d go out on a limb (whatever Emily says to the contrary) and say that we ARE seeing the effects of venting here, whether it’s the actual plumes, or just topography that has been smoothed and shaped by the venting.

  4. thomas Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    why… what did emily say now… ;) ?

  5. Bill Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 6:11 pm

    Oh, just that it’s way too early to speculate. Hah, after all this time she still doesn’t know most of us very well…

  6. thomas Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    well, she has to or else people like me post crazy shit right away. luckily i always have gordan U to check my facts!… ah… i am just a designer.

  7. Gordan Says:
    August 14th, 2008 at 5:45 am

    LOL B-)

    I’m actually also inclined to think the smooth-ish appearance at certain places in the stripes is a result of vent deposits.

    Then again, I’m no geologist…

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